It was one thing to dance with Momo, but it was another to dance to a love song with Hirai Momo.
It was a complete mystery to Mina why Momo didn’t just pick one of the men in their dancing school. They could’ve done a love duet in which both parties longingly circled around each other. Instead, she had chosen Mina to dance with.
They had started off by consulting with some of the instructors of JYP Nation, trying to come up with an idea for the following stage. They started off with good intentions but it ended up in many useless hours laying on their backs in the dance studio, offering bad ideas to each other.

Their first idea had actually been pretty good. Their instructor had proposed the idea of them doing the tango. The tango was known for being a lover’s dance, so it’d be perfect for This Love. They found some good music and practiced the first few steps their instructor had put together.
The dance wasn’t hard, but being so close to the blonde was somehow agonizing. Mina performed the steps flawlessly, but she noticed how her whole body tensed when the blonde placed her hand upon her hips and grabbed her hand firmly, leading the way. She could barely concentrate on the feeling she was supposed to bring over.
She already felt the burning gaze of their instructor in her back as they waltzed through the room, Mina’s face painfully blank. Whilst Momo gave it her all – with y gazes and all – Mina could barely bring herself to hold her hand.
After a couple of practices, she eventually refused to go on.
“I’m sorry but this is not going to work,” she said halfway through the dance, disconnecting herself quickly from Momo. She distanced herself as quickly as possible as much as she could from the blonde, who had stopped dancing in confusion. Mina wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked down.
“I’m glad someone else noticed that too,” he muttered. “There was literally no spark between you two. Mina, I’m not used to this kind of behavior. Where is the girl who could lose herself in dancing? It almost seemed like you tried to back away as far as you could from Momo. This is supposed to be a love duet but you’re making it very hard for yourself and for us here if you’re not willing to give yourself.”
Mina had walked out of the dance studio after that, shaking her head and holding back her tears. She fled into the dressing rooms and calmed herself down with sips from her water bottle.
Mina sat down on one of the benches and let her head and back rest against the wall. The base of the song they were supposed to dance to rumbled through the thin walls. Her foot tapped along to the rhythm.

After a while, she had calmed down again. Mina wiped the leftovers of her tears off of her cheek, took one last sip and stored away her bottle. She walked back and was about to enter the dancing studio again when she heard angry voices.
“-chose someone better!”
“I don’t want anyone else,” was responded by Momo in a voice that was weirdly calm. She heard the annoyed sigh of their instructor.
“You’re supposed to do a love duet, Momo. You already chose a girl to accompany you, which, I will assure you, is quite weird. The other contestants will choose someone of the opposite to dance with. And I have no problem with guiding you two but damn it, at least pick someone who is willing to dance with you.”
Mina bit her lip, realizing pretty quickly that they were talking about her.
“Like I said before, if she really wouldn’t want to dance with me, she would’ve said no. Mina doesn’t like me enough to do this out of the kindness of her heart.”
“Well then make her act like it. When you took her hand, she looked like she wanted to cut her arm off. If she can’t handle a love duet then ditch her and get someone who can. We don’t have an endless amount of time. The second stage is coming closer every second and we cannot waste any more hours.”
With difficulty, she could control her shaking lower lip. Tears filled her eyes again. Mina quickly turned around, already walking back towards the dressing rooms when the door of the studio slammed open and someone emerged. She felt a hand lock around her wrist and she was spun around with a force greater than she expected from the blonde.
“You heard all of that, didn’t you?” Momo asked her, her voice small and breakable of the shame that spread through her body. Mina looked away and took back her hand.
“It’s the truth and you know it,” she muttered. From the corner of her eye, she saw Momo shake her head.
“No, it’s not. That you can’t dance with me simply means our performance isn’t perfect yet. If you aren’t enthusiastic, then it’s not Hit the Stage worthy. We’ll find something else… at least, if you’re still willing to help me,” Momo said. She looked down and smiled weakly. “I’d understand if you don’t want to anymore-”
Mina shook her head.
“N-no,” she stuttered. “I.. I think I still want to, but just.. not today anymore.”
Momo looked up. Her weak smile grew out until a big grin.
“That’s okay. Will I see you tomorrow?”
Mina nodded slowly. “I suppose so.”

The next day, Momo let her know that their practice session wouldn’t happen that day. She didn’t specify the reason, but Mina guessed it was because of what happened the previous day.
It barely mattered, though, because Mina had solo class so she had to go to JYP Nation no matter what. Besides dancing with Momo, she had group and solo lessons. Two group classes a week and five solo hours. Since she wanted to become a professional ballerina, she needed those extra hours.
It was more fun to dance with a group, but the group’s level was lower than hers. With people like Sana, who constantly tripped over their own feet, it was hard to practice well. Despite that, Mina needed to learn how to dance in groups, which was basically why she stayed. On top of that, it was very fun to dance with the other girls, despite her always being the prima ballerina assoluta.
Their dancing school annually prepared a dance show which was held in the common theater. The opening date was nearing and they still needed to optimize their dance. Mina and her group would perform small, recognizable pieces of well-known ballet dances.
They were practicing a scene of Swan Lake when the doors of the dance studio flung open and hit the walls with a loud bang. Most girls were immediately thrown off, but Mina only stopped when she heard the recognizable voice of a certain blonde.
“Miss, can I talk to Mina for a second?”
She sounded out of breath and very excited. Mina and her dancing teacher exchanged a glance and she nodded, a little bit baffled by the sudden appearing of Momo. Mina excused herself and quickly left the dance studio.
“What?” she asked, as soon as Momo had dragged her back to the dressing rooms. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rose her eyebrows. Momo stared at her with excitement and she almost seemed to burst of enthusiasm, like a little kid who had just found out something for the first time and was dying to tell their mother.
“I have the perfect idea. You’ll love it!”
Mina questioningly rose her eyebrows, signing for her to talk further.
“You know my friend Chaeyoung, right? The short girl with-”
“She’s in your modern dance classes,” Mina stated. “Go on.”
“Well, Chaeyoung, Jeongyeon and me hang out a lot and when we were together yesterday she told me about this movie she had seen. The kid likes old movies or something and she saw this one called ‘Fear’ which was about the abusive relationship between a man and a woman. The man is handsome, charming, affectionate and simply perfect but he turns obsessive with her. Can’t we do something like that?”
Mina frowned, still processing the large amount of data in such a short period of time.
“You want to portray an abusive relationship on stage?” she asked.
“Exactly!” Momo confirmed. “We will stand out, I’m sure. Everyone will do this lovey-dovey kind of dance and ours will be dark and dangerous. ‘This love’ doesn’t has to be cute and sweet. ‘Our love’ will be ed up. What do you say?”
Mina thought for a moment but it didn’t take long for her to nod in agreeance. Even she could see the possibilities in this idea. Momo was right; everyone would be twirling around each other like young puppies to indicate the young, innocent love. Some might perform an act that was a bit more ual, but none of them would highlight the side of love that is close to craziness, to madness. They would and they would stand out.

The first few times they practiced together, they did it without the instructor. Now that the authority was gone, Mina felt a little more relaxed. She felt more comfortable, also because it was simply her and Momo. It had been their idea to portray an abusive relationship and both girls preferred to make up the choreo themselves as well.
Despite the fact that their collaboration went very well, Mina still felt a bit weird. It was getting easier and easier to act normal around Momo. Actually, she also started to loosen up around her as well. Only a few weeks ago, she and Momo had been sworn rivals, mainly due Mina’s harsh feelings. Now that the sharp edges had been shaved off of her feelings and Mina had opened up to the blonde a little bit, she noticed that Momo wasn’t as bad as the reckoned her to be.
They turned out to be a pretty good team when it came to dancing. Despite the difference in preferred music genres – Momo liked modern dance and hip hop the most whilst Mina simply stayed with ballet – they fit weirdly well and they barely had to communicate for them to understand each other. When Momo’s body moved, Mina’s moved along or the other way around.
On top of that, Mina started to realize why everyone was so smitten about Hirai Momo. She indeed was funny, up till a point where even Mina burst out in giggles. It wasn’t just her jokes, it was mostly her physique; how she could dance like a goddess one moment and trip clumsily over her own feet the next. Soon Mina realized that dancing machine Hirai Momo and the real Momo were two different people. Hirai Momo could dance like a devil, gaze into the audience like they were her prey and they needed to shiver in fear under her crushing power. Momo, on the other hand, loved dogs despite the fact that she was allergic to them and her favorite hobby was eating and watching movies. Hirai Momo could rip out your throat; Momo would accidentally trip and kill herself. They were two entirely different persons and that only indicated how skilled Momo was in dancing.

Chaeyoung also helped them with the music; she turned out to be quite handy. She had made a remix of different sounds, taking parts of the soundtrack of Fifty Shades of Grey – a small act of rebelliousness of the small girl towards the rising popularity of the movie – which was perfect for the dance they wanted to perform.
They had made up that they wanted this huge cage on stage in which Mina would end up being trapped in. It would be a cube without its walls. The only thing that would actually trap her in there were pieces of ribbon, wrapped around the cage a couple of times. It was there to represent their abusive love. Mina was able to escape – since she was only held captive by ribbons and nothing else but air – but she would be too panicky to even notice. Momo would take a loose end of the ribbon and draw it around the cage one more time during the dance, so that the audience would notice that she was the abuser and that an abuser likes to keep their lover captive. She’d circle around the cage, predatory, tightening the ribbon around the cage and therefor tightening her grasp on Mina.

When they announced their plan to their dance instructor, he smiled for the first time to them, nodding along as they spoke. They showed him the choreography they put together already. Even though it was not much, their instructor was clapping at the end of the piece.
“I’m proud of you, girls,” he praised them. “Seems like we got ourselves an idea.”

After that, progress was made quickly. Within a week they had made the whole choreography – including Momo and Mina’s self-made part. It was quite a show, Mina thought, as soon as they had rehearsed the piece once.
They included pieces of ballet in it, in favor of Mina. Momo spent a lot of hours trying to practice her ballet pieces but Mina could tell that she was struggling. Their training hours were mostly spent in ‘ballet classes for dummies’, taught by Mina. Momo tried, she noticed, but you could see that she had never danced this genre before and despite the flexibility of her body, she could still not touch her toes. They limited Momo’s ballet moves to a few basic ones, whilst Mina would perform the more harder ones. Therefore, the dance would still look complex, even though Momo would not do the hardest part.
On the contrary, Mina neither had to perform hard hip hop moves as well. Mina was mostly locked up inside the cage and especially during the middle part of the dance, she was looking around in panic instead of actually dancing. As soon as the slot started and the base hit in, she would mostly throw up her legs like the ballerina inside her knew how to do whilst Momo would shock the judges with her skills. They were in perfect balance and their cooperation couldn’t be better.

They practiced the dance countless of hours after that, often going on until the late hours to get everything right. The deadline was coming up and both of them were nervous. They needed to perform perfectly and even then, they might not win. It didn’t mean as much to Mina as it did to Momo but Mina felt about as strongly as winning as the blonde, perhaps because she truly wanted Momo to win.

It was 1 AM, two days before the second stage of Hit the Stage would happen when Mina felt a spark for the first time.
Their dance was almost perfect by now. They could perform the dance with their eyes closed if they wanted to, and even then, they would be completely synchronized with each other. Mina started to get more and more excited for the performance on Hit the Stage.
By now they had already done interviews together in preparation of the show. Mina had needed to give a short introduction of herself and Momo had explained why she had chosen her. In the interview, she had described her as someone who worked hard and was prepared to give everything. Momo had told them that Mina was the best choice to go with because there was something about her that attracted people of any gender. Mina had blushed as soon as she had seen the whole interview. She had not talked about Momo about it, though.

Mina was growing more and more fond of the blonde as the hours passed and she had already admitted to herself that she had been wrong the whole time. Hirai Momo was genuinely a nice person and everything but egocentric.
And when she danced… even Mina was impressed. She couldn’t look at her with the eye of a ballerina and judge her way of forming certain poses, because Momo barely did ballet, even in this piece. And even if she could, she didn’t think she was able to. Momo had something about her that was just completely transfixing. She captured you in her dance and Mina wasn’t immune to this as well, even though she was a dancer herself.
She had felt it during her first performance on Hit the Stage, but she felt it even better now that she was on the dance floor with her. During their performance, Mina could feel the sensation burning inside her body. When Momo reached out to her while she was in the cage, she felt utterly scared. When Momo laughed and grabbed her wrist to pull her back when she wanted to escape, Mina shivered in fear. But their first spark had been when their hands joined together when the beat dropped.
During most of the dance they performed their own story; Momo as the crazy psychopath, keeping their lover locked and Mina as the victim, desperately trying to escape. But their hands joined together through the cage when the music became louder and they shared a knowing gaze. Their characters, just like themselves, were still linked to each other.
When they just started practicing the dance, Mina had looked down to her feet, trying to correct her pose. As soon as she had become confident enough to look up, Momo had stared at her with such an intense gaze that it made her heart beat faster. At first it had been just scary. Momo seemed to be completely lost in her role; Mina guessed that was what made her a great dancer as well. But the more they practiced, the more Mina started to feel connected to her as well, the more she started to feel as a lover who couldn’t escape.
Whenever they shared that glare, she wanted to escape not for the sake of running away from the blonde, but to run towards her. She wanted her as much as she feared her. When they danced, Mina could completely lose herself in the music. As soon as it stopped, she was left a little emptier than before, as if something had just been taken from her. Momo seemed to snap out of her daze pretty quickly and to see the blonde act normal again, also made her return to the normal world as well. But in the very first moments after the music ended, Mina would still feel conflicted whether to run away or press her body up to hers and connect their lips.

Later that night, after she had showered and crawled underneath the cozy blankets of her bed, the experience of that afternoon had made her start thinking.
Mina had always known that the opposite gender wasn’t the only one she was attracted to, but there had never been a woman who had made her heart beat as fast like Momo had during their dance. She wondered if it was normal for dancers to feel like this when they danced together. She hoped it was.
But Mina did wonder how Momo felt about her. She knew that the blonde was able to lose herself in the dance as much as she could, but did she feel as connected to her as Mina felt to her? Did she prefer to rip the ribbons from the cage and kiss her passionately?

That night she was plagued by dreams that seemed so vivid that she woke up with the feeling of blonde hair striking over her face and two lips still attached to hers the next morning. The girl in her dreams had been faceless but she knew it had been Hirai Momo. Who else would she dream about?

Their performance on Hit the Stage came nearer and nearer with every passing hour. They were present in the building early in the morning to prepare themselves for the show that would happen at 6 PM that evening.
They practiced their dance a couple of times that day, just to make sure everything was perfect, as well on stage as off stage. It felt no different to dance on stage than it did to dance in the studio. Mina reckoned it was because of Momo; the blonde seemed to radiate calmness, most because she was sleeping whenever the other participants were performing their act. Mina found herself looking at the blonde often. It didn’t surprise her that Momo was that tired. She herself was tired too – they had worked around the clock to optimize their routine – but it happened often that Momo stayed longer when Mina went home or was earlier at JYP Nation than she was. She worked even harder and she hadn’t thought about how tired the blonde must be. To help her, Mina covered her in a blanket when she fell asleep in weird places and watched over her while she slept.

They didn’t talk much to each other. Momo was mostly sleeping and Mina was mentally preparing herself for the show. An hour before the show started, they were directed to get their make-up done. After that they were simply waiting, which was the most agonizing part of the whole evening.
When Mina had visited the first episode of Hit the Stage, the show had seemed to be very relaxed. The hosts were joking around and the participants were, despite their nerves, pretty funny as well.
Now that they were waiting backstage, Mina realized that she had been wrong all along. None of the contestants were relaxed; people were running around with cameras and other equipment and the stage manager was shouting instructions. There were constantly people around to get them to their spots and Mina got more agitated by the second. Whenever they had some time to themselves, they went back to the dressing room to rest. Mina kept walking around, unable to stay still. She hoped that the walking would help her raging nerves but it seemed like they only started to build up more.
Momo, on the other hand, seemed to be in an always ongoing internal crisis. Whenever she wasn’t sleeping, she simply stared off in the distance. With her legs a little spread and her elbows leaning on her knees, she just stared at the ground, sometimes for more than half an hour. She didn’t even notice Mina stealing glances of her.

At a certain moment, all the participants were directed to a special place. Momo and Mina quietly walked along. When their hands brushed against each other accidentally whilst walking, Mina couldn’t help to look up. A bolt of electricity had run through her hand all the way up to her arm when their skin had connected, but Momo didn’t even seem to be aware. She just stared at the ground with a deep frown on her face.
They entered the stage all together. The hosts introduced the show and as soon as the introduction had finished, they were directed backstage again. They were quickly hoarded to a waiting room.
The participants were directed to a large waiting room. Since the order of performances was already known, all they had to do now was wait. Mina noticed they were one of the last to perform, which didn’t help either of them to snap out of their daze.
Little by little, the number of participants started to shrink. They left by duo’s and didn’t come back after. From the waiting room, you could hear the music playing on stage and the thunderous applause of the public whenever an act started or ended.
A little while after they sat down, Momo got up and started to practice her ballet moves. There was one particular move in which she needed to jump up, land and immediately lay down on the floor that she still sometimes had trouble with. Mina understood why: it already was a difficult move for a practiced ballerina and they’d perform on bare feet. Even she had trouble getting her poses right without the support of her ballet shoes. Mina watched her practice but the more she practiced, the more it unsettled both of the girls.
When it was only them and Hoya with his partner, Momo sat down again, a little out of breath. Mina offered her her water bottle, but the blonde shook her head. Mina watched in pain how she started to stare at her own feet again, caught in her own feelings. She wished she could secure the blonde somehow.

One of the stage assistants eventually came in. Momo looked up, immediately snapping out of her daze.
“Momo, you’re almost up. We need you to get ready,” he told them. The blonde nodded and both of them got up. The assistant led them towards their starting position behind the curtains.
Their hands brushed against each other’s again but this time, Mina didn’t hesitate to grab the blonde’s firmly. Momo shot her a glance from the corners of her eyes but Mina stubbornly kept looking forwards. She felt a little bit better intertwining her fingers with her partner’s; it helped to calm herself down, knowing that there was someone with her to help her, even if it was Hirai Momo, the girl whom she had conflicted feelings about.
As soon as the assistant had brought them to their place, he walked off, leaving the two girls alone. Momo still looked down, but Mina pinched her hand to get her attention.
“It will be okay,” she murmured, almost inaudible. Her gaze met Momo’s and blonde stared back at her with a glance that radiated fatigue.
“If we screw this up, I’ll be eliminated…”
Mina took her other hand and pinched in that one too.
“We’re just going to do the best we can. If we feel it, then the judges will feel it.”
Moma sighed deeply and pinched back in Mina’s hands.
“I’m really glad you’re here with me,” she got out, in a croaked voice. Mina blinked in surprise. She opened to say something back, but they were tapped on the shoulder. The assistant was back and was now holding up three fingers. They were nudged forwards towards the stage as he started to count down.
Momo and Mina shot each other one last glance before they entered the stage and took their positions.

Mina had performed quite a lot of times on stage, but those had only been ballet shows. There were no cameras and the people stayed quiet during the performance. The first thing she noticed right now was the incredible sound the human mass created; it almost hurt her ears.
The lights shifted to dark red or were completely turned off, creating a dark, scary vibe in the whole hall. The public grew silent as the music started.
As soon as they started to dance, Mina was basically able to close her eyes. She knew the dance perfectly; the poses felt familiar and her body knew exactly what to do. Momo gave everything she had and Mina did the same. They danced and Mina hit that point in which she lost herself completely in the dance within a few seconds of the song starting. The well-known creepy feeling started to stalk her and infiltrated her body with fear and panic. But desire was part of it as well. Fear and lust ran through her body like a tornado and when she connected with Momo they shared a gaze that was full of sparks, full of emotion, full of wanting for the other.

The stage ended way too soon and they were met by thunderous applause from the audience. Mina’s heart was beating hard and fast in and she was very much aware of the force that seemed to pull her towards Momo.
Their points didn’t surpass Feeldog’s, one of the other participants, but Mina was barely aware of that. The only thing she felt was Momo holding onto her hand behind their backs, her nails digging into the back of her hand. The blonde’s chest rose sharply and fast and Mina wondered why; their dancing hadn’t been that exhausting.
After their points were added up and they hadn’t managed to snatch away the trophy from Feeldog, they were allowed to change their outfit backstage. Momo pulled Mina roughly with her. Mina was barely aware what was happening. She still felt the rush of the performance in her body; she could still hear the creepy music play in her ears; she could still see Momo’s dark gaze.
They rushed past the crew backstage. Momo sometimes bumped against someone with her shoulder, but none of them made a comment. Some even sent them pitying looks, since all of them knew that Hirai Momo had been eliminated with this performance. They thought that she was upset and they let them run off.
They entered the dressing room. No one was there. The last duo was performing right about now and the others were on stage. They would soon join them, if they had changed their clothes.
The door fell shut with a loud bang. Mina didn’t even look up from the sound, but immediately focused her gaze on the blonde. Momo let her hand go and had turned around. She stared at her with a mixed gaze, one that Mina couldn’t exactly decipher. Her heart bumped hard against her chest, but her mind was foggy and dry. Her tongue felt like sandpaper. They looked at each other for a long moment. With each passing second, Mina could feel her stomach turn more into a knot. Her hands started to itch; she wanted to reach out but she transfixed and wasn’t able to lift her arm.
The longer they looked, the darker Momo’s gaze became. It seemed thirsty, almost hungry even. It was the look she wore on stage, the look of the psychopath. Only this time, she didn’t look scary at all. She looked like she simply wanted her with every fiber in her body. It made Mina’s cheeks flush.
Momo still wore the make-up and hadn’t bothered to wipe it off. Dark streaks were covering her face, intensifying her heavy gaze. Her blonde hair and pale skin were strongly in contrast with her black clothes.
Mina didn’t back away when Momo stepped towards her. First slowly, then faster until their bodies crashed against each other harder than she had expected. Momo’s hands curled in her hair, holding her face. They both breathed hard, the aftershocks of the performance still raging through their bodies.
Mina’s eyes trailed to her lips, so close to hers. She couldn’t help but to let the tip of her tongue run over her lower lip. When she looked back up, she noticed Momo had done the same. They shared a knowing gaze, before their lips collided roughly. Momo’s fingers curled further in her hair and Mina’s nails digged into the blonde’s back. Their lips slid over each other hungrily, full of need, full of lust. Mina felt Momo’s hot breath against her lips. They tasted like salty from sweat and a bit minty, a mix that was strangely addicting.
Mina’s back hit the wall and their kissing grew more intense. When the blonde tapped her lower lip with her tongue, she wasn’t hesitant to open for her. When their tongues touched, a low moan escaped the brunette’s mouth. She felt Momo respond immediately by pulling her body even closer to hers. Mina circled her arms around her neck, not planning on ever letting her go.
The tension of the past few days – past few weeks – finally was able to come out and it felt better than anything had ever felt.
With the faint sound of music on the background they kissed and kissed until they were out of breath and their lonely hearts had finally been filled with love.

Mina was only aware of the delicious feeling of the blonde’s lips against hers and her hands travelling all over her body, until the music stopped. An alarm bell started to ring in the back of her mind and suddenly she remembered where they were and what they were supposed to do.
She placed her hands around Momo’s face, slowly breaking off the kiss. Momo understood the hint almost immediately, but that didn’t prevent her from groaning out of frustration that she had to back away. Instead, she buried her face in the crook of Mina’s neck, placing feather light kisses on the sensitive skin. The brunette couldn’t help to tilt her head a bit, so that she’d have more space.
“W-we have to get back…” she murmured. Momo sighed in response and looked up. Her gaze had turned back normal. Her eyes had seemed to get their familiar dark brown color back, but she still looked like she preferred to continue their make out session. The black stripes on her face were a bit smudged.
Mina’s cheeks flushed dark red when she realized how scandalous this actually was.
“Fine,” the blonde answered curtly. She quickly took her sweater and threw it over her head, whilst Mina exchanged her long skirt for jogging pants. As they did that, Mina could feel Momo’s eyes stabbing in her back, sharp and painful. The tension between them was only fortified by the silence that had settled.

They returned to the stage. Momo hadn’t bothered to grab her hand. The hosts immediately commented that Momo was a dancer who truly lived for their craft because she hadn’t even bothered to take off her make-up. The blonde had laughed shyly at that and nodded quietly. Mina looked down to her shoes to hide her burning cheeks.
They sat down with the other participants and waited for the final scores.
The hosts took care of the rest and eventually revealed the winner of this stage. Mina and Momo had ended up somewhere in the middle with their performance and because Momo hadn’t excelled in her performance, she was therefore cut off from the contest. It wasn’t said directly to them or the public, but when the episode ended, the other participants were happily discussing how they’d tackle the next stage – the stage they were told nothing about. Momo hadn’t reacted and had looked down to her shoes. Her hair had been covering her face and Mina had therefore not been able to tell how she really felt.

On their way back to the dressing room, Mina grabbed the blonde’s hand. Momo looked up to her, her gaze at first hard and confused. After a few seconds, it softened. The blonde nodded at her thankfully.
They didn’t say much; they simply got their stuff and left the building. Together they went home. The silence between them wasn’t as pressuring anymore. Both of them were tired and simply wanted to lay in bed and do nothing for a decade. Their attention span was low and during the bus ride home, they both listened to their own music, each staring out of another window. They never let each other’s hand go, though, because the comfort the other person was providing was much needed.

The bus stopped at Momo’s stop first. When the blonde let Mina’s hand go and stood up to get out, the brunette couldn’t help to hold onto it as long as she could. Right before she checked out, Momo turned around, wanting to say something. She had already opened but seemed to change her mind. Instead of saying what she wanted to say, she smiled, nodded to say good-bye and left.
Mina was left with a gaping hole in her heart.
The remaining few minutes were lonely without Momo.